Right place, right time

The small river which formed across the road before the bridge on Royer Road in Ephrata Township inspired this passer-by to slip and slide across Sunday after Hurricane Irene left its mark on the area. (Photo by Stan Hall)The small river which formed across the road before the bridge on Royer Road in Ephrata Township inspired this passer-by to slip and slide across Sunday after Hurricane Irene left its mark on the area. (Photo by Stan Hall)

Talking Sports

By

Bruce Morgan

During my career at the Record Express, I’ve easily watched hundreds of games, matches, competitions … you name it.

Naturally I’ve seen a lot of memorable games with clutch shots, outstanding individual and team performances, upsets, whatever.

So I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise, with many events happening simultaneously, that I was going to miss a thing or two along the way that I wished I would have seen.

Last week, though, I was in the right place at the right time to see an inspired effort from the Warwick girls soccer team against Cedar Crest.

They were coming off a couple of tough losses to Manheim Township and Conestoga Valley in their previous two games, and then before they knew it, they were looking at a 3-0 deficit in the opening minutes against Crest.

It was still that way at halftime and honestly, I thought it was over. I was thinking about what questions I was going to ask coach Casella afterward and what I was going to have for dinner before racing out the door again to cover a volleyball match that night.

But then they proceeded to prove me wrong. First, Sam Machin scored in the 47th minute. Then before you knew it, Lauren Snader made it a one-goal contest.

Suddenly, people started to get sucked into the game. You could see Warwick take over all the momentum. They were winning every ball. They had a step on every Cedar Crest defender. And they started to taste a win.

Rene Ross’ first varsity goal tied it. Then one of their leaders, Kate Mobley, got the goal that some might have thought very unlikely just a half hour earlier – Warwick had the lead.

Cedar Crest responded with the tying goal and then maybe you started to think that this improbable Warwick comeback was too good to be true.

Wrong, again.

After a re-start, Warwick was awarded a penalty kick and Marisa Bertrando calmly and confidently placed the ball into the right corner of the net with just a couple of seconds left.

Game. Set. Match. Warwick had come all the way back, from down 3-0 to win 5-4.

It was good stuff. Great stuff. That should be the kind of game that those girls remember for a long time – not only the outcome, but the fun of playing in such a game. It’s what high school athletics is all about and I was in the right place at the right time.